I recently saw the movie, “God’s not Dead,” in which a staunchly atheist college professor openly challenges a Christian student to prove the existence of God. The dare signals the beginning of an “against all odds” David and Goliath situation in which the student is scorned, maligned and threatened by his professor. He faces overwhelming odds and painful personal challenges to stand for and prove the truth: God is not dead. The point is that some person or group adhering to a false narrative doesn’t undermine the truth.

In like manner, the tea party, which often faces mockery and disdain, is presumed by some to be dead and of no significance to American politics. We have been written off by our adversaries of both political stripes who somehow think that the powerful movement comprised of millions of patriots from coast to coast who spoke truth to power in the nation’s capital in 2009, then launched thousands of grass-roots efforts nationwide and had an integral hand in the landslide GOP victory in the House of Representatives in 2010, has died simply because they created a false narrative.

Not only is the tea party NOT dead, but we have successfully beaten back the odds to firmly entrench our presence in politics. Win or lose, the tea party is hardly dead. Even those who forthrightly oppose our viewpoints own up to this fact. Eric Liu, the writer of this CNN op-ed, boldly asserts: “In cases where the tea party didn’t get what it wanted, as in the debt and default crisis, it still succeeded in redefining the frame of the possible. In short: The tea party wins when it loses and wins when it wins.” Liu continues, “Some will insist that [Cantor’s] historic upset was simply a fluke. But the reality is that the ‘Establishment Strikes Back’ storyline has been wrong all along. The tea party has in fact been on a roll ever since it burst on the scene.”

We absolutely have “been on a roll.”

We’ve rolled in buses across this great country and held rallies. We rolled into every level of politics from small-town school board officials to United States senators and representatives. We rolled into voting booths and conventions and affected legislation. Bikers rolled into Washington, D.C., to honor 9/11 victims and commemorate veterans, and patriots rolled onto a ranch in Nevada, protesting government overreach. We’re still on a roll, and we know how to roll. It’s what we do.

Naturally, we have suffered losses and experienced defeat. Nonetheless, we forge ahead and don’t give up, give in, or mask the proven and time-tested conservative policies, which are the foundation of American Exceptionalism. Like the student in the movie, tea partiers resolutely stand for the truth and are rewarded in the end.

In two words: Dave Brat.

The major upset of the year in Virginia stripped power from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who held one of the most powerful position in politics and fell to a widely unknown, unapologetic Christian conservative and economics professor who gained the backing of media heavyweights Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck without purposely trying. Why? Brat’s ethical and economical principles are those that have steered America into greatness.

Dave Brat’s colossal win is the quintessential underdog vs. establishment victory that sent a clear message to the establishment: The tea party is not dead. No double-talk. No dead-end policies, amnesty sellouts or tax hikes. Although he didn’t run as a tea party candidate, Dave Brat embodied the essence of the tea party: free markets, pro-growth economics and constitutional adherence that resonated with Virginia voters.

If anything in “dead” in politics, it’s the views of the tea party held by Mississippi incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. Astonishingly, Cochran said he has “no idea what the tea party is.” Apparently, he now knows since he’s facing a runoff against tea party favorite Chris McDaniel, in what was a nail-biting, razor-thin margin that spelled victory for conservatives on June 3. The Tea Party challenger is leading Cochran by 8 points, quite an impressive feat for a candidate from a presumably “dead” political spectrum. Come June 24, Cochran will have more than an idea of what the tea party is; he’ll have an up close and personal encounter and come to understand that the tea party stands for principles over politics, no Obamacare, no gun control and certainly no schmoozing with Democrats. Until then, perhaps Cochran should now ask Eric Cantor all about the force of the tea party and not continue to remain clueless as to how that race turned out. After all, he faces the same imminent threat.

If the tea party was ever “dead” to naysayers, it has resurrected with a vengeance. Like the student in the film, it’s a matter of belief, of faith and of hard work no matter what label others try to pin on you, what box they try to force you in. He proved that God’s not dead, and likewise, neither is the tea party.